Việt Nam beat Australia at U16 champs

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam came from being two goals down to beat Australia 3-2 in their Asian Football Confederation U16 Championship’s Group B match in India on September 19.

The Vietnamese maintain their chance to enter the next round after their extraordinary comeback while 2014 semi-finalists Australia were eliminated from the tournament.

Australia captain John Roberts put his team in front in the 18th minute, also scoring a second goal 10 minutes later to give his side a 2-0 lead at halftime.

Việt Nam, however, responded strongly in the second half.

Nguyễn Hữu Thắng helped his side claw back in the 51st minute, also netting the equaliser nine minutes later.

Nguyễn Duy Khiêm’s winner five minutes from the end of the game helped his team secure three points and break Australian hearts.

"In the first half we didn’t begin the game well. My players were nervous and were not focused. In the second half we changed things. We told the players we had no other chance and no other way; everyone must fight together," coach Đinh Thế Nam of Việt Nam said.

“We are very happy with the result of this game, especially our second half performance. We have played Australia several times before. We know them, we analysed them and they played exactly how we had expected,” Nam said.

On the other side, Tony Vidmar blamed his players’ nervousness, although they had a good start in the first half. Two of his key players, Adrian Viggiani and Fabian Monge, were replaced because of injuries.

Australia lost control of the match and “our strategy went out the window when they scored one and then the second and finally the third goal, which killed us," Vidmar explained at the post-match briefing.

With Japan securing first place in the group with an 8-0 win over Kyrgyzstan earlier in the day, the runners-up spot in the group, or the quarter-final berth, is set to be decided by the final match – the winner takes all tie between Việt Nam and Kyrgyzstan on September 22. — VNS